Bring back the glory days of 2008

May 16, 2014 - 03:13:31 | Mohamed Niyaz
Maldives national team against Laos on 13th May 2014. (MS Photo: Shimaaz Ali)

Rewind to 2008. It was the evening of 14th June 2008. Final match of SAFF is winding down to a draw. Maldives gets corner and Ashfaq opts to take it.

It is not the kind of corner kick you would expect from him, especially in the dying minutes of the game. It appears he could not make the right connection with ball and is destined to get cleared before any Maldivian player has a sniff of it. It is skidding along, like it is on a wet surface, evading everybody in and around the box.

Mukhthar Naseer, standing just outside the penalty area, will not have any idea he will be the recipient of this gift-wrapped opportunity. But when it did, there was nothing to think about. S-H-O-O-T.

Shoot he did from 25 yards, with as much power as his thin frame could muster up.

Thousands of Maldivian supporters thronged to Sughathadasa Stadium, Colombo, were watching, without batting any eyelid. It was a blur. It flew so fast you knew something had happened only when the net rippled.

They erupt in frenzy, in wild celebration. Maldives-1 India-0.Before long come the final whistle and kick-start the wildest celebration we have ever seen in Maldives football.

The small island nation tucked away some 1200 km away in the Indian Ocean explodes into a carnival of red colours. National flag-bearing supporters race out of their homes and throng on to the street to enjoy the biggest triumph in football. The first gold in a regional competition.

It still feels like yesterday. The architect of that historical goal may be nicknamed 2kilo by his former coach Lazlo Kiss for his thin frame, but that was a goal to be weighed in gold. A goal that will remain etched in our memory forever.

As we get ready to celebrate yet another festival of football starting from May 19th it is quite appropriate that we pay homage to Mukthar and a deserved band of players who served national football team in their spirit and sweat.

In many ways they were a golden generation who had opened the door for Maldives to play more confidently and assertively. Jameel, Assad, Sobah, Thoriq, Ali Umar and Mukthar deserve all the accolades for their distinguished services to football.

It is up to the present players of national squad to take from when they left and set a winning mentality in the team.

SAFF 2008 is not a tournament anybody would forget in haste. The electrifying atmosphere, how a nation rose to the occasion in unison to make it all happen. The final match and most of all, the all-important goal to seal the victory.

The whole nation was festooned in red. There were tears of joy and relief. For a nation that had been tagged perennial underachievers, a team that choked in the final hurdle, this was the moment people had been waiting for. The moment we were crowned SAFF champions for the first time.

Those who had difference of opinion and were on not talking terms due their political affiliation were in arm in arm, on lanes and by lanes of Male’ and other islands in the new found happiness celebrating, dancing and singing patriotic and football songs. It was not like anything Maldives had seen before.

That is the all-conquering power of sports. Its ability to draw people closer together, discard once and for all, the ugly manacle of discord and hatred to the dustbin of history. A football tournament can heal old wounds of disgruntled citizens; its magic can revive the spirit of our oneness.

As we say goodbye to an end of era those are the abiding memories that is still etched in memory long after it has gone into the pages of history books. That camaraderie, that brotherhood.

That is what we want to see on 19th May. The same passion. The same excitement writ large on the face of people. A vibrant atmosphere in the stadium to match the joyful mood surging through people of all ages as Maldives kick off the AFC Challenge cup in the home turf, in front of home supporters.

One nation urging in once voice for national team.

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afff on May 18
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As I contiue reading tears felt out from eys and shivers just appeared all over my body. . I miss those joyfull days
fan7 on May 18
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i still get butterflies when i think about those days. that moment when 2kilo scored.

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